GCSEs to match toughest exams

GCSEs will go back to basics with tough new subject content, the
reintroduction of end-of-course exams and the abolition of coursework as
part of a Coalition plan to inject “desperately-needed rigour” into the
education system.

GCSEs will be subjected to major reforms after David Cameron insisted that tests had been undermined by "grade inflation".Photo: ALAMY

A sweeping overhaul of qualifications taken by 16-year-olds will be unveiled on Tuesday in a move designed to make exams comparable with the toughest tests sat elsewhere in the world.

In a series of changes, ministers will announce that pupils will study whole Shakespeare plays in English instead of short extracts, at least one 19th century novel, a selection of Romantic poetry and seminal world literature.

Maths courses will feature more advanced algebra and statistics, biology syllabuses will place a greater emphasis on evolution and genetics and pupils will be set challenging mechanics problems in physics.

Foreign languages will also involve more questions focused on advanced grammatical rules and translation and pupils will be expected to write longer essay-style answers in history exams, it is revealed.

The proposals will be outlined in a number of GCSE subject specification documents drawn up by the Department for Education with input from leading academics.

Government sources said the syllabuses – taught in England from September 2015 – would be similar to O-level courses sat by pupils in Singapore.

At the same time, Ofqual, the exams watchdog, will also publish a separate consultation paper outlining major changes to the structure of GCSEs, which are sat by almost 600,000 children a year.

It follows claims made by David Cameron on Monday that “grade inflation” had “robbed our qualifications of rigour and respect”.

Under the last Government, the number of exams awarded an elite A* doubled from 3.6 to 7.5 per cent while A grades increased from 14 to 22.6 per cent, despite British pupils dropping down international league tables.

In a speech, the Prime Minister said the education establishment had become “increasingly comfortable with failure”, adding: “That is why – despite fierce opposition – we are pushing change through, injecting desperately-needed rigour into the system, into what children learn and how they’re tested.”

The Ofqual consultation will recommend:

• Assessing pupils entirely through an end-of-course exam taken after two years – abolishing the “modular” system in which courses are broken down into bite-sized chunks;

• Axing current "tiered" papers aimed at low and high-ability pupils, with all children sitting the same exam, possibly with the exception of maths and science;

• Making GCSEs entirely free of coursework other than in science where practical assessments will be retained;

• Scrapping the existing A* to G grading system in favour of a numerical marking scale from 1 to 8, with 8 being the top score.

Government sources insisted the change to grades was made to avoid straight comparisons with existing GCSEs and not to enable examiners to add grades 9 and 10 when large numbers of pupils reach the top mark in the future.

It is also understood that the qualifications are likely to retain the GCSE title and not be dubbed “I-levels” in line with a leaked report last week. They may be renamed GCSEs (England) to differentiate them from separate exams taken in Wales and Northern Ireland.

Ministers are also planning to ask 1,000 pupils a year to sit a new “sample test” in English and maths – without school-level results being published in league tables. Results would then be compared to GCSE scores to check that grades in the latter were not being subject to inflation.

The changes will be announced as a major report by a cross-party group of MPs – published today – revealed that the GCSE grading fiasco of last summer was largely down to changes made by the last Labour government.

The Education Select Committee warned that the shift towards more coursework and a modular system created instability in the system, adding that concerns raised by exam boards “were not acted upon” at the time.

A senior DfE source said: “We are reversing the devaluation of the exam system that Labour and the unions encouraged.

“GCSEs will again be exams at the end of two years instead of being broken up into low quality modules. Coursework, corrupted by cheating, will be limited.

“Exams will test higher level skills – such as more essay writing, problem-solving and mathematical modelling – that universities and businesses desperately need.”